About Dave

Hi! My name is Dave Goldman and I want to thank you for stopping by. I grew up in Westchester, New York. My hobbies included all types of sports (martial arts, basketball, baseball, bowling, golf, etc.) My life took a detour in 2001 when I relocated to Charlotte, NC for employment. For over 20+ years I have been a software engineer.

In 2006, I ended up having a freak accident where I sat down on my foot and crushed some disks in my lower back. After lots of exams and dragging my foot around we found out that I had a severely compressed lumbar injury. This was a result of degenerative disk disease and poor posture from sitting hunched over for so many years. I ended up having to have surgery to correct this problem to remove the disk fragments to elevate the spinal compression. My L4-S1 disks were removed. My world had come to an end and everything I loved to do I had to give up.

Due to the spinal compression, this led to nerve impingement and I lost all of my reflexes in my left lower calf muscle. This left me with no ability to control my walking and due to no foot control and I was left with a terrible limp. In addition to the spinal surgery, I spent 16 weeks in physical therapy, and 16 weeks on bed-rest. From being on bed-rest for so long, I lost all of the muscle definition I had gained from working out. This left me mentally distraught and severely depressed. I can’t believe that one injury caused me to hurt so bad physically and mentally. My weight went from 230 lbs at 15% body fat to around 265 lbs at around 40% body fat due to the lack of physical activity, as a result I was put on blood pressure medication due to the excessive weight gain.

For the next 10 years, I gave up and had tons of excuses as to why I should not work out. This was due mostly to the pain and feeling nervous about re-injuring myself. Of course, when one thing in the chain goes something else will follow. Due to the spinal injury and lack of ability to control my left foot from the lumbar nerve damage, I was left with an altered walking pattern (valgus knee or “knee turning in”).

Walking around with your knee internally rotating is not a pleasant feeling. What this did was wore all of my joint cartilage down until it was bone on bone in the knee joint. This was excruciatingly painful and debilitating physically. Once again, this was another serious blow which further reduced my ability to perform normal every day activities. I had to have corrective surgery to fix this problem. More than 60% of my medial and lateral meniscus was removed from my left knee. Once I healed up I was able to start physical therapy for the second time, so that I could learn how to walk normal again. Personally, I hated physical therapy- they made me work my ass off which changed my thought process towards working out.

During my time at physical therapy I saw individuals that were in their 60’s and 70’s that had injuries that were worse than mine. Some of these individuals were leaving therapy faster than I was. This was a real eye-opener and became a major turning point for me. From that moment, I made the decision that I was going to make a life style change. No more excuses. I changed all of my habits (mental, diet, working out, sleeping, etc). My only goal and promise to myself was that I would learn how to eliminate all of the pain that I caused to my body from years of neglect. I felt I owed it to myself to get back to normal, whatever that normal was. I wanted to restore my quality of life.

I was intrigued and impressed by the physical therapists and what they had done for me. I searched for a method to achieve my goal. I did that by attending training at the National Academy of Sports Medicine. This is where I became a (NASM-CPT) Certified Personal Trainer.

As of today, I am back down to 215 lbs at 20% body fat and no longer have a limp. I am able to work out 6-7 days a week without any pain or needs for knee braces. I am also participating in sports again.

I continue everyday to extend my education by attending various workshops and classes. I am currently working towards my Human Movement Specialist (HMS) certification through the Brent Brookbush Institute and (CES) Corrective Exercise Specialist through NASM.

My commitment and goal to you as a trainer and coach is to help you achieve the same goals I had-which will lead to a pain free, mentally and physically healthy lifestyle.

If you are ready to make a change and invest in yourself reach out to me!

Have a great day!

Dave

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here:
Cookie Policy